Starting to Believe

If you listen, follow or watch cable news on a regular basis, you might begin to believe that the world is falling apart. A majority of these networks blame Donald Trump for the world’s demise. Yet, when you spend time outside in the real world, current accusations don’t appear to be as bad as initially reported. If the media outlet you depend upon isn’t telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, who and what should you believe?

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” – Mark 9:24

In the passage above, a man approaches Jesus like a disgruntled shopper, complaining about the service he received from a couple of the disciples. Evidently, the disciples were unable to heal this man’s son possessed by an evil spirit. This boy was often thrown into epileptic seizures, foaming at the mouth and unable to control his own body. Jesus attributes this failed miracle to a lack of faith. Desperate to see his son freed from this helpless state, the man pleads with Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief.

But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe,” Mark 5:36.

In the 1992 film A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson plays Colonel Nathan Jessup who is called to testify in court about one of the marines under his command who was killed. During a cross examination by Tom Cruise who plays Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee a Navy defense lawyer, a heated argument ensues. Known as”You Can’t Handle the Truth,” this scene depicts the effort and struggle to unravel truth from fiction. When forming a belief system, this process is just as difficult, sorting through what your church, education and parents have taught you. Meanwhile, friends, mentors and professors may be pressuring your to confirm to post-modernism or secularism humanism beliefs.

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so, Acts 17:11.

When you come to a spiritual crossroads, the best advice is to follow in the footsteps of Berea. This first century church urged their members to test everything they heard before reaching a conclusion. Fact checking practices entailed combing through the Bible to determine if ideas, new teaching or theories were consistent with what the apostles taught. Sometimes information is easy to decipher while other pieces take weeks. months or possibly years to grasp. During a letter to Thessalonica, Paul reminds the people he visited to abstain from evil, 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22. Although you will never know all the answers to life’s questions, at some point you have to start believing.